Conn. Right to Life to focus convention on personhood

WATERBURY – “Human Personhood: Spirit, Body and Gender” will be the theme of this year’s Connecticut Right to Life Corp. state convention, scheduled to take place April 23 at CoCo Key Water Resort Hotel and Convention Center.

The convention will run from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Registration will open at 8:30. A Mass will be celebrated at 9. There also will be an awards luncheon buffet at 12:30.

The featured speakers are Erica Bachiochi, Bryan Kemper and Matthew Valliere.

Ms. Bachiochi is a legal scholar specializing in equal protection jurisprudence, feminist legal theory, Catholic social teaching and sexual ethics. She speaks widely on abortion, sexual economics, the impact of new sexual norms on women and the poor, care ethics and authentic reproductive justice.

A speaker at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015, she also has presented in conferences sponsored by the Pontifical Council on the Laity and has represented the Holy See at the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations.

She received her Master of Arts degree in theology as a Bradley Fellow from the Institute for the Study of Politics and Religion at Boston College, and her law degree from Boston University School of Law. She serves as a visiting fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and is a research scholar at the Terrance J. Murphy Institute at the University of St. Thomas Law School.

The title of her talk is “Does Women’s Equality Require Abortion Rights? A Pro-Life Feminist Perspective.”

Mr. Kemper is the founder and president of Stand True Ministries, an affiliate organization of Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries. It is a Christ-centered pro-life group determined to awaken young people and to share the message of life and the Gospel of Christ.

Mr. Kemper started out in the Christian music industry in 1987. He combined his passion for music and pro-life work into one organization, Rock for Life, in 1993. Since then, he has spoken at high schools, colleges and universities throughout the United States as well as in many other countries. He was a regular guest on “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher and co-hosted his own call-in cable show in Portland, Ore.

Mr. Kemper has been featured by various media. His first book, Social Justice Begins in the Womb, was released in 2010.

Mr. Valliere is the executive director of the Patients’ Rights Action Fund, the national, secular, nonpartisan movement to defend the rights of patients, people with disabilities, the elderly and the poor from the threat of legalized assisted suicide.

He earned a master’s degree in philosophy at Boston College. Mr. Valliere has worked both in private business and for non-profit causes. He lives in Oklahoma City with his wife, Teresa, and their three children.

He will speak about physician-assisted suicide.

The cost, which includes luncheon, is $45, or $25 for clergy and students. Reservations may be made by calling 203-757-5213.

Note: This story differs from that in the Transcript's print edition, which included Msgr. David Q. Liptak, former executive editor of this newspaper, as one of the speakers. Connecticut Rite to Life Corp. issued a press release saying that Msgr. Liptak broke a hip in a fall on Holy Saturday and is not expected to be fully recovered by the date of the convention.

The same press release also said that the three pro-life candidates for the presidency, Senator Ted Cruz, Gov. John Kasich and Donald Trump, have been invited to explain their views on pro-life issues at the convention, which is taking place three days prior to the Connecticut primary.